Joachim Yhombi-Opango

Joachim Yhombi-Opango (12 January 1939-) was President of the People's Republic of the Congo from 1977 to 1979, succeeding Marien Ngouabi and preceding Denis Sassou-Nguesso and Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo, succeeding Claude Antoine Dacosta and preceding Charles David Ganao.

Biography
Joachim Yhombi-Opango was born on 12 January 1939 in Owando, Cuvette, French Congo. Under President Marien Ngouabi, Yhombi-Opango served as Army Chief of Staff despite only being a Major; in March 1977 he became President of the People's Republic of the Congo after the murder of Marien Ngouabi. In 1979 he was forced to resign when he was accused of forming a rightist faction in the Congolese Labor Party, and his successor Denis Sassou-Nguesso arrested and demoted him, also claiming that he was one of the men responsible for Ngouabi's assassination. Yhombi-Opango attempted to run for President during the 1990s and onwards, and from 1992 to 1993 he served as Prime Minister.